


Hope I See You

by im_a_lime



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Ghosts, M/M, Paranormal, joshler - Freeform, tyler is a ghost
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-11-13 17:04:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11189514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_a_lime/pseuds/im_a_lime
Summary: “Holy shit.” was all he could say, wanting to bolt out the front door. But for some stupid reason, he didn’t.Why was he this stupid?Instead, he called out towards the sound.“Uh, hey!”[a.k.a. Josh is a realtor trying to sell a haunted house, and Tyler is the ghost]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ginnybadger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginnybadger/gifts).



> This is dedicated to ginnybadger, because i think she's really cute guys. really heckin cute.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! There's much more to come :)

Josh stood from his desk and straightened his tie, letting out a long sigh as he eyed the paperwork laid out in front of him. It was his first solo assignment as a real estate agent; so far he had only been shadowing the more experienced agents and doing menial tasks around the office. You know, answering phones and scheduling appointments. And SOMEONE has to be the one to bake those cookies for open houses.

But not today! No, today Josh had been given a real assignment. A real house to sell. And, of course... they’d given him the "haunted" one.   

Not that Josh was afraid. Not that Josh believed in ghosts. Everyone knows ghosts don’t exist… _right?_

Josh shook his head, hoping to clear his thoughts. He shuffled the papers into a manilla folder which he tucked under his arm, and reached for his keys.

“Good luck out there today, Dun!” his boss called over with a knowing grin. “Don’t get too spooked.”

“Right, thanks boss.” Josh dismissed the comment with a laugh, and ducked out the door before anyone else could hassle him about this “haunted” house.

As he slid into the driver's seat, Josh was aware that his collar was a little too tight. He wasn’t used to dressing so professionally, but he wanted to really impress this house. It was his first house to sell after all, he wanted to look spiffy. He shifted the car into gear and headed towards the house.

The first thing Josh noticed about the house was how...entirely un-intimidating it was. As he pulled into the long semi-circle driveway, he couldn’t help but laugh to himself. THIS was the scary haunted house? Sure, it looked pretty rough. The faded yellow paint was beginning to peel, and the garden was more weeds than flowers. But overall the house seemed to have a charm to it. He relaxed as he turned off the engine and gathered his things. This wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Josh felt quite odd as he let himself in through the front door, closing it gently behind him. The owners had insisted on only meeting him at the Real Estate office, and simply gave him a key for when he needed to be on the property. They had already moved out all of their essentials and hired a moving company to gather the rest that weekend. Josh tried not to wonder why they were so desperate to get out of the house.

Josh failed.

Josh was wondering why the fuck they were so desperate to get out of the house.

Why did he have to think about this while he was in the house. Alone.

“h-hello?” he called out hesitantly, almost expecting a ghost to jump out shout “SALUTATIONS!” and offer him a cup of coffee. He shook his head with a sigh, almost disappointed in himself.

Coffee wasn’t such a bad idea though. He headed to the kitchen to see if maybe the owners had left a coffee maker laying around. Much to Josh's dismay, there was no such luck.

“Damn it!” he opened his folder and clicked his pen, making a note for himself. “Priority number one: drag a coffee maker into this place so I can survive until it sells.” He couldn’t help but talk out loud, it had always been a habit of his. It wasn’t long before he was walking around the house verbally listing off things that needed fixing before it would sell. Some walls needed patching, a stain in the carpet, one of the windows was cracked-

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass echoed from another room, causing Josh to yelp and toss his papers across the room. The hair stood up on the back of Josh’s neck and he felt goosebumps all over his body. Josh found himself unable to move as a chill settled across the room. They hadn't trained him for this. 

For a split second, it was completely silent, causing Josh to wonder if he had somehow imagined the crash? maybe he misheard... a weird bird? that just so happened to make sounds like glass shattering all over the kitchen floor? 

But oh god there is was again, clear as day, the sound of glass shattering. 

“Holy _shit.”_ was all he could say, wanting to bolt out the front door. But for some stupid reason, he didn’t.

Why was he this stupid?

Instead, he called out towards the sound.

“Uh, hey!”

 Shit. He hadn’t thought this through. But he was thoroughly committed to confronting whatever the fuck had just happened in the kitchen. What if someone was breaking in? What if it was a tall buff dude with a weapon? Now Josh was almost _hoping_ it was a ghost.  

 

Silence.

 

He took a few cautious steps towards the kitchen, trying not to let it show that he was absolutely scared out of his mind.

“I, uh. I heard that.” He commented, stepping closer. He was still shaking a little, but there didn't seem to be any buff guys standing around with weapons, so at least there was that. But now from the doorway he could see that the window above the sink had completely shattered, with no evidence of how. “God damn it.” he sighed, stepping into the kitchen, now a little bit more irritated than scared. “That was a nice window, you know how much it will cost to replace it?” he muttered, studying the scene. 

* * *

Tyler had to agree, it was a nice window. Although he hadn’t been thinking about that when he shattered it. He was just trying to scare the real estate agent out of the house. He was tired! Tired of people always being in the house! Always moving around the furniture and trying to change the wall colors. Inviting in noisy guests and threatening to paint the house so it would no longer be that “god awful shade of yellow” that he adored so much. It was a pain to have new families come in with screaming children and barking dogs. Tyler just wanted to rest. He just wanted some peace. But between each family was a nosy real estate agent, trying to make the house more “marketable” and increase the "curb appeal" and parading around strangers during open houses. He was sick of it!

But this one was different. And it peaked Tyler’s curiosity. Partially because he didn’t run out of the house screaming like most people did. Was he brave, or just plain stupid? Or had he not heard that the house was haunted??? That is something a real estate agent ought to be warned about. He figured the whole town had heard about his house by now; and quite frankly, the thought that his haunting wasn't well known was disappointing to Tyler. 

But the other part that intrigued Tyler, was that he legitimately felt bad when the agent scolded him for breaking the window, and this caught Tyler off guard. He wasn’t supposed to care about the opinions of the living. Why did he suddenly care if he pissed this one off?

He was now hovering behind the agent, watching as he picked up pieces of broken glass and tossed them in the trash.

Nobody had ever picked up after him before.

Nobody had ever stayed when he threw a tantrum. Nobody ever  _talked to him._ Well, unless you counted people screaming and cursing him, but Tyler didn't consider that much of a conversation. 

Nevertheless, he was skeptical. Who was this dummy, and why was he cleaning up Tyler's mess?

Out of pure curiosity, Tyler casually reached a finger out and tipped over one of the kitchen chairs. 

"Jesus!" the guy jumped, and Tyler watched with pleasure as goosebumps spread across his arms. He could see that he was shaking now, but for some reason trying to... hide it? Why was this mortal trying to pretend he wasn't afraid? Wasn't he aware that Tyler could  _smell_ the fear as soon as he entered the house? He didn't need some punk agent pretending he wasn't afraid of him. It was insulting at this point. He was _l_ _ucky_ that Tyler had only shattered a window and knocked over a chair. Upset all over again at having an intruder in his house, Tyler pushed all the chairs across the room, making sure they made a god awful screeching sound against the hard floor.

"Get out." Tyler growled, real low so the agent could barely hear him. So he would be questioning if it was real, or imagined. So it would keep him up at night wondering what the hell had happened in that house. And he couldn't help but smirk a little as the Realtor stumbled backwards, dropping shards of glass across the floor, eyes wide with fear. Tyler watched him scramble to grab his keys as he ran out the door and fumbled to start his car. As he watched the car speed away down the street, he felt a familiar sense of satisfaction that came with (rightfully) driving people out of his house. 

* * *

It was nearly midnight, and Josh was still sitting wide-eyed in the parking lot of the Real Estate Office. He hadn't even unbuckled his seat belt. He was so shaken up from... well, whatever it was that was in that house. He wanted to beg his boss to give him a different house. Or ask to be relocated to another city. Or quit his job entirely. But he knew none of those were real options. With no experience, Josh had to work his ass off to get where he was. It took him a long time to get from unpaid intern to a legitimate Realtor, who they now trusted to sell a house. He knew if he failed at this they wouldn't give him another assignment, and he'd have to start from square one at a new job, somewhere else. He was already barely scraping by in his shitty apartment living off cheap pasta and 99 cent frozen meals, he couldn't afford to be unemployed again. 

Plus, selling a house meant making  _commission._

Of course, Josh was not a highly seasoned realtor, so we’re not talking large sums of money. But it would pay much better than his previous job at the Guitar Center. And if he kept it up he could become good at the job, and build up to bigger commissions. Maybe he could even get a house of his own some day.

And that was it. From that moment, Josh Dun was determined to sell this house, and whatever the hell was possessing it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2, as promised :)
> 
> Also since i know nothing about owning or selling homes, i've done a lot of research on real estate and the process of selling a house for this fic haha. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

The following morning, Josh had arranged to meet with the owner of the house. Instead of meeting at the office like usual, Josh had invited him to a coffee shop nearby. He hoped this would provide a relaxed setting for the conversation, and eliminate the chance of his boss overhearing something he shouldn’t. He didn’t want the whole company thinking he was some kind of nutcase who believed in ghosts.  
But.  
He did.

The owner nervous approached Josh at the table he had been waiting at, recognizing him from their previous meetings.  
“Patrick!” Josh said with a warm smile, reaching up to shake his hand. This time, Josh had a bit more sympathy for Patrick. He understood the crazed look in his eye. The reason he never wanted to meet at the house. Why he never seemed at ease, like he was always on edge. The times Josh met his wife and kids, they seemed equally nervous, and Josh felt a whole new level of sadness for whatever this family had been through.

“I believe you.” Josh blurted out as Partick was taking his seat. This startled him and caused him to jerk his drink.

“What? You… believe me?” He repeated, folding a napkin to wipe up the hot drips of coffee he’d spilt on the table.

“There’s something in that house.” He whispered, leaning closer across the table. “Some sort of ghost or demon.” Patrick nodded at Josh’s words, still seeming tense.

“What got to you?” He asked curiously, a knowing look on his face.

“He, uh, it? I don't know. It broke a window. Slid some chairs around. I think it even growled at me?” Patrick nodded along, and Josh was surprised at how casual this conversation seemed to be, all things considered.

“I’ll be honest with you, it does get worse. I don’t want to get to detailed, but none of us feel safe even going near that house ever again.” he sighed, hanging his head and looking distraught. “I understand you can’t help me anymore, I just don’t know how we’re going to-”

“No!” Josh exclaimed, “Patrick, no! I still want to help you sell your house.” He reassured. “I didn’t ask you here to quit on you dude, I promise.” Patrick simply stared at him, bewildered for a few moments before speaking.

“You… you’re still going to help sell the house?” He said each word slowly, trying to make sure he understood what Josh was agreeing to. “There’s a ghost. In that house. And you still want to work with me.”

“Yes.” Josh nodded confidently.

“Alright.” Patrick said suspiciously, probably wondering how stupid Josh could be. “And thank you,” he added nervously, “For meeting with me and for still wanting to help.”

“I’ll do my best to get it sold.” Josh said carefully, not wanting to make any promises that he could magically get the ghost out and convince someone to buy the place.

“Do whatever it takes, honestly. We already agreed to a pretty low price, but we can keep lowering it. My wife wants to just get it off our hands. Just get it sold man, whatever that takes.”

* * *

 

Tyler couldn't believe it.

The rickety car of the realtor from the other day was pulling back into his driveway.

Had he not done a good enough job? Was his haunting not up to par? Outdated? What exactly was scaring the kids these days?

Tyler was furious. How dare he come back. he specifically told him to get out. What did this dummy not understand?? He prepared himself as the agent approached the front door, waiting in agony as he slowly entered, closed, and locked the door behind him. Then he heard the agent softly call out,

“Hello?”

Fuck. Why’d he have to do that? Why did he waltz in looking all cute, and actually call out to Tyler?

Doesn't matter.

Tyler released all that he had been holding in, letting every cabinet slam open, every drawer rattle, every chair hover just an inch or two above the ground.

And for a moment, he got his satisfaction. He felt the fear radiate from the realtor as his eyes widened and his hair stood on end. His muscles tensed as if he wanted to bolt back out the door and never come back.

But then, his eyes closed. He inhaled deeply, and released. His muscles relaxed a bit, and he took a step forward.

Tyler retaliated, slamming everything back shut as loudly as he could. But he couldn’t believe the response from the real estate agent, eyes still closed.

“You...uh. You really like messing with the kitchen, d-don't you?” His voice was shaky, but the comment itself caught Tyler off guard.

Beyond his usual response of how-dare-you-talk-back-to-me, he was taken aback that the man had noticed his particular draw to hanging out in the kitchen. He wasn't supposed to notice that. He was supposed to be too afraid to be making observations on Tyler's habits.

Furthermore he was stunned when the guy opened his eyes, then pulled a coffee maker out of his bag and plugged it in. Was this guy for real? Tyler just tore apart the whole kitchen and he was making coffee?!?

He couldn't believe this. How dare he ignore Tyler.

* * *

 

Josh did his best to just focus on making coffee, ignoring the cabinets slamming open and shut, and random dishes flying towards his head. It was difficult, and frankly very fucking unsettling, but once realized that none of the flying dishes were actually going to hit him in the face, he relaxed at least a little. He was able to zone it all out until the coffee was brewing, then moved on to organizing his paperwork.

Josh continued his list of things he wanted to do to improve chances of selling the house. And, honestly he was going to need it, considering all the damage this ghost or whatever was doing. He figured they could do some nice landscaping, fix up the paint job, and do some repairs to the inside that would definitely sweeten the deal. But who the heck wants to live with such a temperamental presence? He couldn't help but wonder to himself.

“Um…” He called out, unsure of what to say. “Hey.” Josh was very nervous, but he noticed the commotion calm down for a moment, and realized maybe it was worth trying to talk it out with the, uh. Ghost.

“So, um. I don’t know about you. But when I’m trying to get my work done, I prefer to NOT have dishes flying at my head? And with the cabinets slamming around it's a bit loud in here.” Josh paused, waiting to see what it would do. Much to his surprise, the cabinets stopped moving and the dishes settled on the counter.  
“Uh, thanks.” Josh added, unsure of how to react, but glad the tantrum seemed to be over. Josh couldn’t believe his own bravery if he was being honest. He had been fully prepared to run outside screaming by the end of the day. But…. who knows maybe he still would. For now though he figured he’d be okay. He shook his head and tried to get back to work.


	3. Chapter 3

As usual, Josh slung his work bag over his shoulder and entered the house, locking the door behind him. “Honey, I’m home,” he called into the empty home. He figured it was best not to surprise the ghost or catch him off guard- so he always announced his presence. It was only polite, after all.

He made his way to the kitchen, which had become routine, and started his mourning coffee. Every day he was slightly more comfortable in the house. First bringing in just the coffee maker, then keeping a few of his favorite mugs in the cupboard. Little by little the place was growing on him, which he knew was not at all professional, but he figured it wasn’t hurting anyone. He tossed his bag on the kitchen table and began digging around. 

Today, Josh had come to work prepared. He pulled out a package of alphabet magnets that he had picked up on his latest Target run, and started sticking them to the refrigerator. Once he had finished, he took a step back and glanced around the kitchen.

“Uh…Hi.” He scratched the back of his neck, “My name is Josh. I’m the one you keep throwing dishes at. Um. The magnets- they’re um. Well I just didn’t know if you…. Forget it. This is stupid.” Josh was suddenly feeling very self conscious. Who was he talking to? And what had made him think that whatever MIGHT be possessing this house would want to talk to him? He swiped his bag off the table and headed for the living room. 

“I’m just going to get this over with.” Josh muttered, tossing his stuff on the floor and plopping down. He couldn’t believe how ridiculous he had been. He shook his head and pulled out the blueprints of the house, studying them closely. A glance out the window told him it wasn’t a good day for landscaping, so he decided to photograph the inside of the house. As much as he wanted to repair it first, he needed to at least start putting together a listing to put online.

Standing up, he pulled out his camera and hung it around his neck. It wasn’t even his camera of course, he didn’t have that kind of money. The company had given him the fancy one to borrow, along with some brief training about photographing houses. He got the gist of it- make the house look good.

Josh worked slowly, nervous that his shots wouldn’t be good enough. He started at the front entrance, and photographed multiple angles of each room in order- the living room, dining room, then hesitantly, the kitchen. Once he had finished up downstairs, he found himself at the bottom of the staircase. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and a chill seemed to pass all the way through his bones. 

Something was telling Josh that he should  _ not _ be going up the stairs. For whatever reason, he felt like that was somehow an invasion, crossing some privacy boundary he was not allowed to cross. Rather, he’d prefer to run right back out to his car and never re-enter the house. However, Josh persisted. Gently placing one foot on the bottom stair, the feeling of dread intensified, washing over Josh as he climbed the stairs.

“This makes being in the kitchen look like tons of fun.” He commented quietly, hoping that a break in the silence might put him at ease.

It didn’t.

* * *

 

_ This motherfucker better not come any closer. _ Tyler hovered at the top of the stairs, staring down at the Realtor frozen at the other end of the staircase… _ Josh _ . Tyler thought back to that morning, when he had introduced himself. And for a second, Tyler felt a pang of sympathy. The guy was just trying to do his job after all-

All sympathetic feelings faded quickly as Josh began moving up the stairs. Tyler felt a red hot burning anger, and he hoped his eyes would boil the blood in Josh’s veins just by staring at him hard enough. He didn’t appreciate that comment about the kitchen, and he didn’t appreciate this stranger intruding in his home. But worst of all, coming for his bedroom. Nobody was allowed in Tyler’s room. 

Tyler again glared at Josh, trying to pierce his skin with a mere thought. He noticed a bead of sweat slide down his temple as Josh swallowed hard- he had to be feeling this. Tyler cracked a sadistic smile, focusing even more energy in Josh’s direction. 

So focused, that he almost didn’t see Josh reach for the camera around his neck. As soon as the camera was aimed at him, Tyler quickly dissolved. He felt all the tension and energy slip away as his dispersed in the air like a cloud of vapor. Nobody had ever tried to photograph him before.

It took Tyler a moment to regain his sense of himself, and in that time, Josh had made it up the stairs and was wandering down the hall, snapping photographs. With every flash, Tyler jumped a little, feeling vulnerable. He held back as he watched Josh work his way in and out of each room, until finally he made it to Tyler’s door. 

“Don’t go in there.” he growled, searing his eyes at the back of Josh’s head. “Don’t go in, Josh.” 

Tyler smirked as he watched each individual hair stand up on the back of Josh’s shivering neck, goosebumps lining his arms at the sound of his own name. His eyes fluttered shut, and Tyler took the opportunity to slam the door in Josh’s face, making him stumble backwards in shock. 

“Good.” Tyler breathed, barely audible as Josh scampered down the stairs and out the front door. 

* * *

It was 9:38pm.

Josh was sitting in the corner of the coffee shop, back against the wall and both hands gripping his third coffee. Eyes wide, he watched the door. He’d been here for what felt like ages, but it was only half an hour ago that he finally broke down and called patrick, who agreed to come meet him. 

Two minutes late, Patrick pushed through the door and scanned the coffee shop, eyes landing on Josh and a sympathetic look washed over his face.

“Hey… What happened?” he asked in a hushed voice, pulling out the chair across from Josh. 

“Whats with the room? The one at the end of the hall-” Josh’s voice nearly cracked, goosbumbs still decorating his arms.

“Ah.” Patrick nodded, knowingly. “Thats his room.” 

Josh simply stared, waiting for Patrick to say more.

“We uh, we didn’t know.” He finally started talking again, rubbing his temple. “We didn’t know that room belonged to him, that he didn’t want us in there. It was farthest from the stairs so, well, we picked that room for the nursery.”

Josh could see that Patrick was getting emotional just talking about it. He slowly moved one hand away from his coffee, and shakily reached across to rest it on Patrick’s arm.

“The baby never slept well in there. She was always crying late into the night. And I know what you’re thinking, I know. All babies cry at night. But, I swear to god that child didn’t sleep for a second in that room. After a while we didn’t even try any more. But-” Patrick closed his eyes, gathering himself. “But one night, after she had been sleeping better, we thought we could try again. And for a while we thought maybe it was working, we didn’t hear her crying. But my wife sent me in to check on her, and… I know this sounds crazy, i know it does but i swear, i fucking swear on my life that it was real, everything in that room was floating in the air, spinning around the room. Toys, stuffed animals, even the crib was hovering above the ground. And, in the middle of it all, my daughter. Just, floating there, in mid air.” Josh’s jaw dropped.

“I… I don’t know what to say. But I believe you. Every word.” Josh gently squeezed Patrick’s arm, hoping to reassure him.

“I guess I yelled.” Patrick started again. “But it wasn’t the kind of yelling you decide to do, it was the kind of yelling where you wonder ‘where the fuck is that yelling coming from?’ until you realized its coming from your own lungs, but you couldn’t stop it even if you tried. My wife heard and came running down the hall, and soon enough she was yelling too. I pulled my daughter out of the room, my wife pulled the other kids out of bed. We drove away and haven’t been back to that house since.”

Patrick shook his head and sighed. “Stay out of his room, Josh.”

  
  



End file.
